Old town kissimmee florida car show

TL;DR Can a Druid be a werewolf?
So I’m currently in this campaign with an old coworker and two now mutual friends. We’ve been in this campaign for a few months now, only playing for a few hours once every two or three weeks.
The campaign has 3 acts and we’re close to end the 2nd act, so I know we don’t have much longer until the end. Before we started we had agreed that if we want to continue with our characters we could, or if someone else wanted to DM that would also be acceptable.
I had and idea for a campaign, were I to be the DM, where their characters would continuously come across this seemingly helpless Druid who had the absolute worst luck and is basically helpless. They’d encounter him along random paths, almost by chance meeting him again. He’d help them out throughout the campaign as best as he could, gain the trust, respect, and love of the players as the story went on. He’d level up alongside them, showing them how he can now change into different creatures to help them out with whatever troubles they may come across.
Along the way he’d tell them how about the tale of the Wolf King, who laid waste to his town and slaughter anyone who couldn’t escape, including his entire family. This is where the main story would begin. They’d go through the legends of the Wolf King, finding out where he allegedly fought his last battle, as well as the numerous traps laid about his castle, and the incantation keeping the inner tomb locked shut. Later on (either the night they gain that info or a few days later) he’d be kidnapped, but leave them a note saying he’d know he’d be taken and to carry on without him.
They’d set out on the adventure, honing their skills as they defeated any foe who got in their way. They’d meet him again right before the big boss fight, breaking the whatever magic kept out intruders for years. They’d walk into the main hall talking amongst themselves as the Druid would walk up to the throne. Once he sat down he’s thank them for everything they’d done to help him reclaim his castle and title of King of Beasts. He’d then reveal that he is in fact the Wolf King they’ve been leveling up to face, with him being a max level Druid who’s is capable of turning into a werewolf.
Whether they win or lose doesn’t matter. Just curious as to whether or not this boss fight is possible. I’ve looked for hours on this and haven’t found a consistent answer, so if anyone could help me out that would be awesome!

So I ran throneofsalt micro scenario #1 this weekend for two of my players since our third player is sick and our 4th player is out. Since he said nobody had run one yet, here's my breakdown of how it went + what we added / removed to make it work! Also this was the soundtrack blasting during the entire session.
This is a long write up. Read it if you're bored at work.
https://throneofsalt.blogspot.com/2021/09/minimalism.html - The scenario
So with one of my players out and one sick, we had to reduce the number of people in the car down to two, the driver still high as fuck, and the passenger, wounded and bleeding amber liquid. Our sick player wanted to participate so he was "the guy on the phone" they could call to get SIGINT type stuff done. The game was done with new characters that they wanted to introduce to Iconoclasts, so I told them if they survived we could roll them into that upcoming campaign. Since it begins with a bang, we ran it as a very action heavy game with very little breathing room, as befits the original text.
So some changes / additions to make it work. Since we needed something chasing them, and a reason that one of the players is high as fuck, we had them playing as undercover FBI types that DG sent to investigate a sort of neo-nazi germanic inspired biker gang (Czernobog's Chosen) in Albuquerque NM. It fits with the chanting head idea, and also why one of them is super high (forced to take drugs to prove they totally aren't a fed), and why one is injured (shot as they tried to escape with the head). This also gives us a great set of threats to chase the players as they try and bomb down the highway at 120+ mph to get to Truth or Consequences NM, where DG has told them a greenbox awaits that will definitely have something to solve this problem.
So our two players are Agent DRACO (CIA Special Operations) and Agent URSA (US Army Medic), with Agent POLARIS (NSA) on the phone.
What followed was an awesome high speed chase down the highway, fighting off a biker gang armed with shotguns and pistols. The players made numerous navigation checks / drive checks, stealth attempts to throw off their pursuers. To keep action up and to keep the session short since it was a filler action game between our main sessions, I had the bikers all be sort of linked to the unnatural chanting head that was in the trunk and drawn to it so the players could avoid them, but not totally escape them. I also incorporated the blue white lights in the distance to be an unnatural storm also associated with the chanting head that approached and then centered over them to make their checks harder and keep things moving.
They swapped cars twice, once after a crit fail driving check lost their first ride at a big gas station, stealing the first car they could find and losing a tiny amount of SAN from helplessness. Agent URSA decided to try and deal with the chanting head thing and failed a SAN check while dealing with it and we decided he started seeing hallucinations that reinterpreted events around him as Norse / Germanic Myth. I've used this style of hallucinations in another game before and folks always enjoy having their characters seeing weird stuff and trying to deal with it.
The second car they actually had the great idea to call Agent POLARIS and have them search DMV records for a "fast car" and "one that has registered firearms would be great". They found a guy with a decently fast muscle car they could use to hopefully push around bikers and also the guy owned guns so they figure "lets rob him real fast". Queue our high on amphetamines Agent breaking into the place, successfully stealthing the keys and then deciding "lets push our luck". Massive fumble on stealth check leads to a shootout with an armed civilian defending his house, killing that guy and leaving tons of evidence behind for future problems. They definitely lost SAN for that one.
Agent POLARIS helps them avoid some ambush attempts by the bikers, and also helps coordinate highway patrol to take a few of them down. For the most part the players are doing pretty well. I wanted to throw just a little wrench in their plans though and when they drove through the national park right before the end of their journey I just had a plain old deer jump infront of the car. Failed driving check, failed luck roll, passed driving check, and then a 99 rolled for "hey did you put your seatbelt on earlier?" ended up launching the medic out of the car. The car survived, and our main driver only got shook up a bit, but the medic dies on impact with a rock. Bit tragic. But I was thinking about how the scenario wrote that one of the characters tried to commit suicide and failed earlier, and also that weird amber liquid instead of blood sooooooooo....
We decided Agent URSA now has a weird creeping amber "infection" that repairs his injuries, but calcifies that part of his body with amber. So basically, he's got no HP anymore, but is slowly being Amber-ified(?) and thats taking a toll on his SAN and overall just not a great thing to tell your bosses that kill Unnatural things. This let us keep the character, and have some interesting RP stuff to play out with the players that were missing this week.
Final part of the adventure and the climax of our chase ends up at a little shack outside Truth or Consequences, and of course our gang of unnatural bikers has to roll up for a dramatic showdown. Agent DRACO defends the house with their weapons they acquired from the place they robbed + what Agent POLARIS could stash. Agent URSA searches the green box and I used the greenbox generator to make a ton of weird stuff and shoved the item they needed into that and just let them start searching through it. Agent DRACO's extremely high shooting skill pays off and helps keep people at bay, though she ends the adventure with 2hp left (the rainstorm really helped keep the bikers shooting skill low so she didnt just get blown away). Agent URSA eventually located a Trepanning kit with weird germanic looking writing carved into it and Agent POLARIS assists in Trepanning our weird chanting skull, right about the time the Highway patrol respond to the shootout and help deal with the remaining bikers. One massive thunderclap later after a successful medieval surgical procedure and the players can breath easy.
They are able to HUMINT their way out of being instantly arrested using their cover story, but are unable to prevent the highway patrol from interviewing and capturing the wounded, amber-leaking bikers. DG has to send a cleanup crew a day or two later and the poor paramedics / patrolmen that responded to the scene met unfortunate ends. Agent URSA and Agent DRACO leave the country after leaving a fuckload of evidence behind that they probably shouldn't have. Caught on blurry cameras, probably some fingerprints, etc. It will bite them in the ass at some point. URSA lost enough san to gain the Delusion condition. POLARIS got away just fine. Czernobog's Chosen might show up in the future as well.
All in all, a really great 2 hour session for players that just wanted some quick action and gunplay since our normal party couldn't get together this week. Thanks for writing such a scenario with such cool vibes.
Also here's the Greenbox they left behind if anyone is ever running a mission in New Mexico and wants a Green Box.

• 1x Mossberg 870 with 24 buckshot shells
• 1x "Elephant Gun", 1 round
• 1x Trepanning Kit (Runic Carvings)
• 1x Flare Gun (2 flares)
• 1x Set of Nunchucks (?)
• 3x Authentic FBI Badges
• 1x Vial of unknown amber liquid (Do not Drink! written on the side) - Would probably infect player with same infection as above.

Growing up, I remember it all vividly: any time my friends or I got too close to the shed, my dad would come out hollering and yelling, telling us to stay away from there and that it was no place for kids. He told me he had expensive tools and dangerous chemicals stored there. As a child, I didn’t question it. It was just one of those things. In my mind, I had been born into a world where the sun rises in the east, breakfast is the first meal of the day and the shed stays locked. They were all true, self-evident and simply the way things existed in my young mind.
But as I grew older and eventually moved off to college, I began to question the shed more. My father still wouldn’t let me look in there. In fact, he kept the sole key on his person at all times. Even when he slept, he would keep the key in his pocket.
Then, during my second semester at the nearby state university, I got a call that every son or daughter dreads. I was attending a lecture on anatomy when my phone lit up, ringing silently in the great, crowded hall. Looking down, I saw it was my brother’s number. I went outside, lighting up a cigarette and answering it.
“Hello?” I said. “Gil?” My brother answered immediately.
“Luke, thank God you answered,” he said. “It’s dad. He’s being taken to the hospital. He had some sort of medical emergency. Can you meet us there? In maybe twenty-five minutes?” I said I would, hanging up. I grabbed my stuff in the lecture hall and made my way to my car. Twenty-two minutes later, I pulled into the hospital.
It was too late, however. My father had died of a heart attack on the way. He was declared dead on arrival.
***
We ended up inheriting the house. Our mother had died of breast cancer ten years earlier, so Gil and I were the last two of the Mortin bloodline. My brother was a good guy, though somewhat of a waste case, constantly smoking weed and dropping acid. He had a tendency to travel out far across the country without notice, moving around to see nature or go to music festivals. That is, when he had the money. And since he worked as a freelance writer, he was often broke.
He really wanted to get at the money dad had left us. He wanted the money from the house most of all. He told me repeatedly that it would be enough to tide him over until he got a footing in the writing industry, that he just needed to make a name for himself and then the money would start rolling in. He had his heart set on it. He would write anything that he could make money off of, from horror stories to romances, short stories to novels, even technical manuals or freelance journalism articles. As we walked to the house together for the first time in months, he repeated this mantra to me again: “Just enough to tide me over, Luke…”
“I think you’re probably going to burn through the money that Dad left you,” I said. “Why don’t you get a real job and just write on the side?” He gave me a sideways look.
“Did you see Hunter S. Thompson getting a ‘real job’ while just writing on the side?” he asked. I nodded.
“Yeah, he was a journalist…” I began as we walked into the house, but we both stopped simultaneously when we saw what was on the coffee table. It was all of Dad’s possessions he had when he died. They were placed neatly in a line- his wallet, his phone, his car and house key, some cash, and last of all, a little shed key on a thin, leather chain.
“What do you think is really in that shed?” I asked. Gil looked at me, pale and wide-eyed in the dark living room.
“I don’t really… I don’t know if I want to find out,” Gil said, whispering as if he were in a church- or a funeral home. I put my hand on his shoulder and shook him gently.
“Of course we need to find out,” I said. “You and I own this property now. We should go look right now.” He breathed in sharply.
“No, no, don’t be an idiot,” Gil whispered. “It’s dark now. In the morning, we can go together. In the morning. You have waited twenty years to find out, I think you can wait a few more hours.” But there was something pleading in his voice, something scared and child-like. It reminded me of when I was scared as a little boy at bedtime, telling my dad there were monsters in the closet, and he would go to open up the door, and I’d tell him to stop, that they’re going to hurt him if he opens that door. But he would open the door and there would be no monsters in there. Surely, it was the same here. Gil would see, and for that matter, so would I. There were no monsters in there.
***
This all happened from yesterday to this morning. We ended up leaving that place together a few hours ago, bloodied and bruised and injured, after being trapped inside all night.
The day before it started, Gil stayed up late downstairs, watching TV and smoking a joint. He made himself a night-cap from my father’s liquor cabinet, pouring some Jack Daniels and ice in a cup with some Coke and sipping it slowly. I stayed with him for a while, talking.
We talked about the good times we had with Dad, about going hiking with him at the Green Mountains, or traveling to New York City with him to see the museums. I thought about how much I really missed him, and a knot formed in my throat. I quickly blinked my eyes to try to get the tears to go away.
Eventually, I went to sleep in the guest bedroom. Gil stayed downstairs, sleeping on the couch in front of the TV. I heard the faint hum of it from upstairs, the canned laughter of whatever comedy he was watching, the acerbic tone of the lead characters as they delivered one witty joke after another. I fell asleep to it, the voices blending into a sarcastic, hissing whisper in my ear.
And then I was floating, bodiless, looking down on a dark cornfield with ravens staring at me. The voice was bodiless, too, sounding like it came from right behind me, but when I turned, nothing was there.
“In the halls of our fathers, everyone is dead,” it whispered mockingly. “You’ll be dead soon too, if you get curious. Some doors are locked for a reason. Some doors should stay locked.”
I woke up suddenly. Something was wrong. I heard Gil yelling. I fumbled around in the dark for the lamp, groggily checking the time. 4:17 AM. Flinging the comforters off, I ran downstairs.
Gil was sleeping on the couch, still as a corpse, and quiet as one too. I looked around confusedly. Where was the screaming coming from? I followed the noise out back. I looked at the shed, and my blood ran cold as I heard another long cry come from inside. I walked across the dirt yard in my slippers, not wanting to get any closer but walking forwards nonetheless. Part of me wondered if I was still dreaming, but the chill air against my sweaty face felt real enough.
The screaming from the shed was not in words. It was a long, drawn-out, painful shriek. It was the shriek of a mother who just lost her only child in a war zone, or the yell of someone doused with gasoline and burned alive, but amplified into an ear-splitting cacophony. I had the key in my pocket. I reached for it with shaking hands, pulling it out, slowly approaching the shed.
Then someone grabbed my shoulder. I jumped, whirling around with clenched fists, ready to fight. Then I saw it was Gil.
“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” I said through clenched teeth. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He put his finger to his lips, the universal signal for silence. Then he leaned close to my ear and whispered.
“If you open that shed now, we will both die,” he said quietly and calmly, as if he were just stating the weather for tomorrow. “Put the key away and go back to bed. You never want to open it in the dark. Never.”
“What do you know about it?” I whispered back, shooting glances over my shoulder at the shed. The screaming still came, though slower now, maybe one heart-rending shriek every minute or so. Part of me was glad there were no neighbors for half a mile in each direction, and that made me want to laugh. There was probably some horrific animal in there that would rip me apart if it got the chance, and I was thinking about noise complaints.
“Tomorrow,” Gil repeated, gently taking my arm and leading me back into the house. I sat next to him in the living room, pouring myself a gin and tonic, sipping it slowly as the screams from behind the house mixed with the canned laughter of the TV show, wondering what kind of man my father really was.
***
I woke on the couch, an empty glass falling out of my hand onto the cushion. Light streamed in through the windows. Gil was nowhere to be found. I looked back and forth, then heard the sizzling of food from the kitchen.
Stumbling in, I saw he had prepared a massive breakfast of bacon, sausages, corned beef hash, eggs Benedict with Hollandaise sauce, Texas toast, orange juice and coffee. He was smoking a joint with the windows opened, occasionally sending a grim look out the back of the house towards the shed. I sat down, pouring myself some coffee and grabbing milk and sugar to mix in.
“Who is all this food for?” I asked. He kept staring out the window. “Hey!” He turned suddenly, his face looking pale and drawn.
“What?”
“I said, who is all this food for?” I repeated. He looked around, smiling.
“Just for us. Why not? I figure you will need the energy today, and so will I,” he said cryptically. He sat down across from me, pouring himself coffee and orange juice and grabbing a plateful of meat, toast and eggs. I did the same, giving him occasional glances.
“What did Dad tell you?” I asked, pouring maple syrup on my sausages and bacon and chugging an entire cup of coffee in one long swallow. It burned my throat, but the rising heat and caffeine made me feel instantly better and more awake. Gil sighed heavily.
“Not much, to tell you the truth,” he said. “He was really drunk one time when you were away at college, a couple months ago. He was drinking more and more before he died, like something was weighing on him, something he wanted to forget. Well, anyway, I was sitting down here with him, watching those documentaries he used to love with him, and during a commercial, he just started talking about the shed.
“‘Now boy,’ he said to me, ‘I know you probably have a few questions for me. I probably should have told you and your brother about it a long time ago, but it is something I don’t like to talk about. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess. I think talking about it tends to wake it up.’
“‘Wake up what?’ I said. Dad was quiet for a long time, just staring at me. Then he leaned close to me and whispered something strange.
“‘The stairs,’ he said. ‘They’re not normal, son. Sometimes they go down below the shed to a… Well, I guess it is just an empty sub-floor. Just a plain, swept dirt basement below the shed. But I never built any such sub-floor, and it wasn’t here when I bought the house, and it isn’t on the plans either. If that was it, then who would care? Hah, a free storage place, people would be happy, right?’ I nodded, grinning back at Dad. He seemed to have a glimmer of his old self for a second, happy and free. But then his face darkened again.
“‘But lots of times, boy, those stairs do not lead to a sub-floor. One time, they led down to a white room covered in blood, with bright fluorescent lights flickering all over the walls and ceiling. And there was a little girl down there, dancing among all the blood, jumping and twirling in her little blue dress, little ballerina slippers on her feet, and all the skin on her face peeled off. She was just a bloody, grinning skull. And when she saw me on the spiral steps in the corner, she stopped dancing and just stared. The lights began to turn off, everything went dark, and I ran, my boy, I ran faster than I have ever run in my life. I felt little hands grabbing at me as I made my way up the last stair and slammed that shed door behind me. I locked it as something fought to get out, something that felt far stronger than any child. And that was just one time.
“‘It’s worse at night. That’s when the real dangerous ones come out. I don’t know how the stairs work, son, and I don’t think I ever really want to. Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll never have to deal with them. Maybe I’ll find a way to destroy them before I die. Aye, maybe…’” Gil stopped speaking, deep in thought and remembrance. I took another sip of juice and ate some bacon before responding.
“So you’re telling me Dad went batshit crazy before he died?” I asked. Gil shook his head quickly.
“He wasn’t crazy, Luke,” he said simply. “At least, I don’t think he was. If he was, the stairs probably made him that way. Do you really think that you were just hearing a fox or something caught in the shed last night? Those screams sounded human. We both know that was something unnatural. But I wouldn’t worry if I were you. If you need proof, we’ll have plenty after today- assuming you still want to go into the shed.” And after we finished eating, with no fanfare or delay, we did. I grabbed the key, and Gil and I went out side by side, scared but not showing it, ready to finally see for ourselves the mystery that had haunted our family for decades.
***
We walked through the hard-packed dirt yard, looking down the grassy field behind the house to the rolling hills that stretched as far as the eye could see. They began to grow blue, pale and fuzzy near the horizon. It was a beautiful place to live, and hard to imagine something so evil might be right in the middle of it.
The shed loomed up ahead of us, boards tightly hammered together and freshly painted a dark red color. The shingles on the small roof all looked relatively new, and the door was expensive and sturdy. I stood in front of the door, listening for the sounds of any movement, but there was nothing. I fumbled in my pocket for the key, pulling it out, looking at Gil who stood close by my side. Then I shoved it in the lock and opened the door.
The shed was dark, as if a curtain of shadow fell across the open door. I stuck my head in, feeling around the side for a lightswitch. And that was when something grabbed my hand. I screamed, ready to pull my hand out and run, and then I felt the lightswitch on the wall. I flicked it on quickly. There was no one in there. Shaking, I turned to Gil.
“Something grabbed me,” I whispered. He nodded, unsurprised. Then we walked in the shed together.
The walls inside were all covered with plates of sheet metal. Every square inch of the shed was reinforced with steel, including the roof, which had a flat pane of metal going straight across the shed, welded to the four that covered the walls. Only the floor was unprotected. It was just a plain dirt floor with a hole in the center.
Looking closer at the protective structure of the shed, I saw deep claw and gouge marks raking the metal’s surface, even those on the bottom of the ceiling eight feet above the floor. Something had clearly been in here and wanted very badly to get out.
I inched closer to the hole in the floor, which took up most of the floor of the shed. It was at least ten feet wide. Looking down, I saw spiraling steps, descending in a clockwise fashion as far down as the light extended. I found a small rock on the ground outside, came back in and dropped it down the center of the stairway. I listened for it to hit bottom, counting the seconds on my watch. After about thirty seconds, I realized it wasn’t going to. Maybe it was too far down to hear when the stone connected.
I looked over at Gil. He was standing as near to the door as he could get, looking like he would rather be anywhere else in the world. I gave him high marks for courage, though. There was something wrong in here, and I could feel it. Outside, it was warm and a fresh breeze blew the smell of flowers and pines through the yard. But in here, it was cold and oppressive. A freezing chill seemed to come from the hole in the floor, spiraling up with the stairs and running over my body, sending a feeling like ice running up and down my back.
“Do you want to go first, or should I?” I said, gesturing to the hole. Gil stared at me as if I had gone mad, his eyes widening.
“Why in the fuck should either of us go?” he said, raising his hands and using them to gesticulate wildly as he often did when he was upset. I shrugged.
“This is our property now,” I said. “We need to at least know what’s on it, don’t you think?” But there was another reason too. It was sheer curiosity, and a desire to prove to myself that there was nothing supernatural going on here, no monster in the closet, just the overactive imagination of an old man. Gil sighed.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll go. Go grab two flashlights and Dad’s gun. Maybe some extra batteries. Some extra magazines too. Better safe than sorry, after all…”
We both went inside the house together, leaving the shed door wide open, and that was when, I believe, something got out. And then the killings in town began.
***
We descended the stairs slowly. They were stone, slick in some places. There was no guard rail or any protective barrier, which made my heart beat a little faster. I liked something to hold onto. If I took a tumble on these stairs, I might keep falling forever.
We heard strange sounds from below periodically, but when we shone our lights down there, we couldn't see anything. Echoes rose around us, sounding at one point like kids playing a game of hide and seek, at another like the howling of a wolf. Strange squeaks and clicks would also arise intermittently from the shaft below us, and then stop as quickly as they had started.
The noises got louder as we descended dozens of stories, then hundreds. It seemed like the stairs would just keep going on forever, until we hit the mantle of the Earth and got burned up. Then a door appeared, painted a chipped blue with a fading daisy on the center of it. I looked at Gil, then swung it open.
Beyond it, a hallway with fluorescent lights extended as far as the eye could see. Countless rooms went off it to the left and right. The lights flickered on and off, sending portions of the hallway into darkness. The floor was falling apart in many places, with strange molds and fungi growing out of the wood. White and black molds battled for space, forming huge colonies that were bigger than my shoe. I walked forward, putting my weight gingerly on the floorboard. It creaked slightly and felt wet under my shoe, yet it held my weight.
“Come on,” I said to Gil, who followed closely behind. As soon as we had walked a few steps down the hall, the door slammed shut by itself behind us. I jumped and turned, pulling out the gun reflexively. Gil put a hand on my shoulder, pushing the gun back down.
“It’s OK,” he said. I was breathing hard, my heart hammering in my chest. Maybe that was why I didn’t hear the counting at first.
But as we walked down the decayed hallway, the lights turning on and off above us with every step, I realized that someone was counting, and it had been going on for a while. It sounded like the voice of a little girl.
“Forty… thirty-nine… thirty-eight…” she said, counting off the seconds. I heard giggling from the rooms around us, but I couldn’t see anyone. We kept walking forward, but that counting was getting on my nerves- not least because I couldn’t for the life of me tell where it was coming from.
We checked the rooms to the left and the right. There were broken tables, old office equipment and chairs in nearly all of them. Some of them had fish tanks, but instead of fish, they had plumes of multi-colored molds growing over the top of them, or, in one case, a dead and dried-out turtle.
“...one… ready or not, here I come!” the girl’s voice screamed gleefully, and that was when all the lights went out at once. We quickly fumbled for our flashlights, turning them on at the same time. I had the gun in one hand crisscrossed with the flashlight in the other, a trick I had seen used in cop shows. Gil had a ten-inch bowie knife in one hand, which he had just removed from the massive scabbard he had it in around his leg. In his other hand, he held the flashlight, which he frantically shone back and forth, up and down.
“Geez, calm down with that thing,” I said. “You’re going to make me dizzy.”
“Something’s coming,” Gil whispered, a note of dread in his voice. “Don’t you hear it?” I stopped, listening hard. Indeed, I heard footsteps nearing, small suppressed giggles, the swishing of a dress. My flashlight illuminated a pale face, a little boy sneaking a peak out of the nearest room. He was filthy, covered in black soot with torn clothing and what looked like blood caked into his hair. He looked up at us quickly then withdrew into the room. For the first time, I felt genuinely scared. Now we could be certain we were being watched.
“Hey!” I whispered, running into the room after him. Gil followed close behind me. The footsteps seemed to be right next to us now, but I looked around, not seeing anyone. Then a blur of movement passed by as a little girl ran over to the little boy, where he was curled in the corner under a broken folding table, crying and shaking with terror.
“Found you!” she said. I shone my light directly at her back, seeing a pale blue dress, but I couldn’t see her face.
“Get away from that kid!” I yelled. She ignored me, bending down quickly, and before I knew what had happened, she had ripped the boy’s throat out with her teeth. She turned to look at us, and I saw that her face had been cut off, and now only a grinning skull remained. It was covered in a thin sheen of blood, and two tiny white pinpoints of light seemed to glow inside the empty sockets of her eyes. With her teeth full of flesh and gristle and fresh rivulets of blood running down her skeletal mouth, she continued to cry, “Found you! Found you! Found you!”
Without hesitation, I shot her in the shoulder. She fell back a half-step, turning to look at me with that skeletal grin, then spun around and continued eating the little boy. He was still alive, choking on his own blood, his huge eyes moving over to me as he died, as if accusing me of being the cause of all this. The sound of his last gurgling breaths were the only sounds now. I shot her again, but she wouldn’t go down. A blossom of blood began to spread outwards on her back where I had shot her, but she showed no pain. Gil grabbed my shoulder tightly.
“We need to get out of here,” he said through gritted teeth. I nodded. We ran back to the door we had come in through, but it was locked tight. The lights were still off. I told Gil to take a step back, then tried shooting at the lock. The bullet ricocheted crazily as if I had shot a reinforced army tank rather than a plain wooden doorway. Next we tried kicking it open, but it was as if it were fused to the wall.
I turned to look at him, and the truth passed between us in a glimpse. To get out, we would have to go farther in, where there were likely even worse things waiting for us.

Below is my analytical - yet ultimately subjective - ranking of every season of One Tree Hill. Anyone else share similar opinions? This first part includes the seasons I rank in the bottom 3 spots.

1. Season 9 - Between the mostly lackluster plotlines, the fewer episodes that made the overall story arcs feel rushed and incomplete, and the fact that this was the show’s final year and therefore I would have liked for it to have been more epic, this season was my least favorite season of One Tree Hill. The storylines concerning Mouth’s weight and the warring cafes were kind of ridiculous and really boring, Clay’s hidden past was too unrealistic and was not especially entertaining (although Logan was adorable), and Xavier’s return felt pointless. The series finale, itself, paled in comparison to other season finales, which was made more apparent due to its lack of event signifying an end of an era (the 10-year anniversary of Tric just didn’t compare to a graduation, wedding, big move, or birth). And while it was nice to see Brooke end up in a satisfying place with her parents after years of issues and insecurities with them, Ted did not get the significant amount of screen time or character building that Victoria had, so this ending felt somewhat unearned (and therefore hollow). Even my least favorite season had its upsides, though, such as the return of Chris Keller and his hilarity. The premiere utilizing clips from future episodes was an interesting way to build hype for what was to come, and Julian making the events of One Tree Hill into a show within the show was a cool way to end it and had some Dawson’s Creek-finale vibes. The best part of the last season was Dan’s arc, easily. He was still a dark character and a badass, and I appreciated that his redemption didn’t include making him too good, as that wouldn’t have felt genuine. Instead, he crashed back into town like a wrecking ball and did everything he could to save Nathan, making the ultimate sacrifice in the process. Dan apologizing to Keith, Keith forgiving Dan, and Keith leading Dan into heaven felt like the only rightful way for Dan to truly achieve his redemption, so I thought that was well done.
   
2. Season 5 - Originally, this season was my least favorite of the show. Perhaps I was initially too focused on how different it was from the high schools years or on the parts of the season I disliked, but rewatching has made me realize that I actually enjoyed most of the storylines. Plus, I now appreciate the way the series transitioned between high school and adulthood. Still, the good elements of season 5 did not compare to the awesomeness of most of the other seasons, nor could they prevent the season as a whole being dragged down by one of my least favorite plotlines: the Peyton/Lucas/Lindsey love triangle. While conflicts and character flaws are a part of any compelling story, the way such things are presented matter a great deal to retaining the entertainment value of the story and maintaining sympathy for the characters involved….and this particular storyline failed at doing either in my opinion. There were certain aspects of the Brooke/Lucas/Peyton love triangle that I didn’t really care for either, but I could appreciate the emotional journeys of each character and some of the entertaining drama that came out of it, whereas I had no such appreciation for the Peyton/Lucas/Lindsey triangle. Lucas’s callousness and Peyton’s cruelty toward Lindsey - along with the lack of any captivating elements to the story - made the whole plotline mean-spirited and unenjoyable, nothing more. And all this culminating in Lucas coldly telling Peyton he hated her and then doing a 180 with the Vegas proposal was unsatisfying, as these were two extremes with no proper transition between them. Brooke and Peyton living together, Haley and Peyton’s work with Mia and Red Bedroom Records, Nathan’s comeback, Brooke fostering Angie and Lucas’s subsequent support, and Brooke’s conflict with Victoria were good story arcs, though.
   
3. Season 2 - This season wasn’t as good as the other 3 high school seasons, and it saw similar results as some other teen dramas did in regards to introducing new characters in its sophomore season: the new characters did not mesh too well with the old characters, and they were unceremoniously written off before the season’s end. Even so, it still had the enchanting spirit of those early, high school years, was a good, solid season overall, and was crucial for setting up some of the best storylines to come. I actually thought Anna was a decent character and could have had an interesting friendship with Peyton. However, that friendship was her only meaningful relationship on the show, since her romance with Lucas was obviously temporary and she did not interact much with anyone else. Felix was mostly a possessive jerk whose relationship with Brooke was not particularly notable, although he could be funny at times. Chris Keller was the only new character with real staying power, and the tour plotline had some good parts to it as well (e.g. exploring Haley’s musical ambitions, focusing on Nathan’s emotional turmoil when she left). Although, I disliked how Haley and Chris kissed because it was completely out-of-character for Haley and ultimately unnecessary to the storyline; Haley went on tour due to her personal aspirations and fear of having rushed into marriage, not because of Chris, and Nathan was against Haley and Chris working together from the beginning, well before the kiss. Still, this plotline led to a great reconciliation journey for Haley and Nathan in the next season, so I appreciated how one story led to an even better one. This season, also, had a number of really good episodes, such as the two-part season finale, which was one of the best finales of the series and had the most shocking cliffhangers. The best storylines of the season included Lucas’s HCM, the opening of Tric and Peyton’s all-ages project (this was a good arc for Peyton that focused on her personal interests and tied nicely into Haley’s), Lucas getting closer to Dan and then trying to bring him down, Brooke becoming more confident in herself and going out for class president, Lucas and Brooke building a genuine friendship and then reconnecting romantically, and Peyton and Jake’s relationship and conflicts with Nikki (those two were just so good together and simply made each other happy, so I always liked that pairing).
   

1. I haven’t rewatched season 1 yet. So I’m all for being corrected. But I think the old ghoul couple who first see Elgin as he runs towards the van are new. Which makes me wonder if they are the ghoulified version of the old couple that Joker ghoul (smiley as some of you prefer) killed earlier in the season. They’re look slightly different from how they were in real life, but essentially are the same. Would explain how the ghouls multiply without being recognized by survivors who knew them when they were alive.
   
2. The ballerina is the manifestation of the blood worms, and that is how they communicate with their host. The dance message from the title of the episode hints to how the blood worms see their relationship with their human hosts. If they dance/work together both sides will get something from the relationship. Each time she showed up they tried communicating to Boyd. The first time in church was an introduction, she danced happily with Boyd and then showed him what she was. The second time she came out of the cellar which has been a hiding spot for both Victor as a kid and Julie last season. We also know that room is where Jade got on of his visions, and with Julie, we learned it’s one of the destinations for the faraway trees, so they may have been communicating information. The third time she shows up, she tries to communicate with Boyd about how he would end up killing Joker. She shows him her arm to again communicate that she’s the worms to him, then places her hand similar to how Boyd later does with Joker which kills the ghoul. To me this shows that the worms solely aren’t their to feed on Boyd but want to establish a positive symbiotic relationship.
   

2.5 This is largely conjecture so skip it if you want, but if I’m correct about 2 then I think it explains what was going on with Martin. The blood worms were not only keeping Martin alive, but gave him abilities so they’d both stay alive whether Martin wants to keep living or not. Then another entity in FromLand captured Martin and chained him up because they couldn’t kill him, but wanted to get these abilities off the board. Martin was then sustained for years by the blood worms as this other entity tortured him and tried to kill him, but the other entity wasn’t able to. The music box showing up wasn’t this entity coming, it was instead the blood worms communicating with Martin warning him that the entity was coming. Hence why Martin said once the music stops “they” will be here. Martin may even have seen the ballerina around him the entire time the music box’s song was playing. When Martin passed on the blood worms he was finally able to die because they no longer kept him alive.

1. Fatima being pregnant would, seemingly, be a first in FromLand. This may tie into the mythology theory because the final people who survive the end of Ragnrok are two lovers who hide away in a magic tree. From them all of the new world develops. This may also connect to the mural we see in the opening credits that seemingly is Fatima and Ellis. May also tie into Father Khatri’s talk about this place being where the final chapters of the Bible are being written.
   
2. The changing seasons. Boyd mentions how odd the trees changing are. Since he’s been there years we can assume FromLand has been in a perpetual summer since the survivors got there, with the possible exception of Victor, who may have lived through season changes before. Could also tie into the Norse myth theory. The world only ends during a dark winter.
   
3. Dale’s punishment. Looking forward we may learn if Colony House has different rules for attempted murder vs the town. What will Donna decide? Since she seems to rule the House. Or is Boyd’s laws covering all of FromLand? If they do wtf is up with the choosing ceremony? Also will this ceremony ever be brought up again? Randal doesn’t seem to get a choice.
   
4. Heal thy self. We’ve seen with Ethan that this place allows people to heal faster then expected. Will this happen with Ellis? Is Boyd truly cured of the worms? Or did he pass them to Ellis as well?
   
5. Wedding dress. Earlier this season Tabitha discovered a suitcase holding a wedding dress as she escaped the cave with Victor. This episode we saw the ghoul wearing the wedding dress but this time her hair was brown like Tabitha’s. Wasn’t she a blonde in season 1?
   

Anyone have it? It's old, last time I saw it on the internet was ~2009

I've been best friends with Jack since we were babies. Our parents are family friends, and we're the same age and we grew up together. I'm an only child, so he's the closest thing I have to a brother. We hang out literally every week, we text almost every day.
Jack met his wife Amanda about 4 years ago. We actually both met her at the same time through a mutual acquaintance, but I never even bothered to learn her name and forgot she existed until he told me he was dating her a few months later and then I recognized her. Amanda pretty much immediately joined Jack and my friend group, and they moved in together very quickly, so now that I see Jack every week, I was also seeing Amanda.
Amanda is a sweet girl, but kind of shy and she doesn't have many friends. Our friend group runs of almost entirely other guys, who are pretty immature, and Jack is a classic "man's man", so I'm usually the person who ends up talking to Amanda the most when we're hanging out, simply because I'm the only guy who's comfortable enough to like typically "feminine" things and can actually talk to her about some common interests. So we've become pretty close too and I consider her a close friend.
Now I've had my own personal demons I've been battling the past few years. I typically hide this from people and most know nothing about it, but it's gotten to the point where I've been an alcoholic, drug addict who has very little faith in other people. Over the past few years everyone in our friend group talks about the people they're currently dating, and meanwhile I don't share anything, simply because I have found it tremendously difficult to connect with anyone, and anyone I do find who I can connect to I don't want to bring them into my world of suffering, so I push them away. The truth is I just don't trust anyone, maybe only Jack and Amanda.
The only people who really know about this are Jack and Amanda, who are supportive. I don't talk about it with them, I wouldn't want to, but they understand why I come across as brooding and reserved on certain topics, and it's been nice having them around where I can just hang out with them and feel connected to two people who just simply enjoy my company, and I enjoy theirs. They don't try to give me advice or anything, they just are solid friends is all.
Now Amanda is admittedly attractive and I'm sure she's noticed over the years that I find her attractive. It's not something anyone can hide too well, but it's never been an issue because I'm an adult who can admit somebody is attractive without actively being enamoured by them. I'm a decent looking guy myself and I've noticed a few glances by her on trips to the beach and what not. Again, I don't have a problem with it, we're attractive people, it's natural to find each other attractive. So it was never an issue. But like with anything, it wasn't an issue until it was.
Amanda had been transitioning careers and she was going to be working from home. I've been working from home for the past 7 years now, so I offered to help her get set up. Jack handled building her desk and chair and all that, but I was coming over during lunch when Jack was at work to help Amanda get her new laptop set up with whatever she needed, since neither one of them are the most computer savvy. It just so happened to also be a particularly bad few weeks for me with my demons. I wasn't drinking or using, but I completely shut myself in and was feeling particularly hopeless. I didn't leave my house for weeks, and they obviously both knew this because I'm an extroverted guy, so the only time I'm not around for a stretch like that is if I'm suffering worse than usual. They didn't say anything, but I'm certain why they asked me to help Amanda get set up in the first place, an attempt to help me get out of the house and out of my spiral.
So I went over to Jack and Amanda's house for the 2nd day in a row. When I arrived Amanda had already drank half a bottle of wine. This wasn't a big deal really, she was a bit of a drinker, but she's never been destructive or anything while drunk, she just gets more bubbly. She asked me the current status of my sobriety and I told her that I wasn't worried about it at the moment (which was the truth, I know myself well and I know that the alcohol wouldn't have made any difference in what I was going through the past few weeks), so I accepted the glass of wine she offered me and got to work on installing some software she needed for work on her laptop. It was taking a while so to pass the time we talked and drank some more. I had a few drinks in me at this point and was feeling pretty drunk, and Amanda was still on the same level as before. One of the installs finished so I sat down on the couch to show her how to work this program. She sat down beside me, but when I asked her a question and got no response, I turned to look at her just looking at me. Before I knew it she kissed me and was grabbing at me. I let it happen at first but then pulled back after a few seconds and asked what she was doing. She just said "I don't know" and tried to kiss me again. I told her "we're drunk" and she didn't say anything, just kissed me again. At first I was passive, just layed there as she leaned into me, but then as she undid my shirt and removed hers, I shamefully admit I actively engaged in the act from that point on. As soon as it was over I immediately knew I fucked up. Amanda did too, but I think the horrified look on my face really caught her off guard, at first she kept saying "I'm sorry" but as I backed away, trying not to throw up, she started crying and asked me "what's the matter?" I looked at her and I saw someone else in Amanda's place. Even the features on her face were different. It's as if Amanda had died and been replaced by a sad look-alike. I guess I looked like I might collapse so she walked over and put her hand on my shoulder, but I immediately turned away, said "fuck you", and walked out the door.
I drove home drunk and sat on my floor. I didn't know what to do. Amanda showed up about an hour later wanting to talk. I let her in without saying a word and she said immediately about how it was a bad mistake and that she would never tell Jack. I just told her to leave, and that i didn't even know who she was, that she was a stranger to me.
I knew I was a guilty man, and I needed to suffer for my actions. I called Jack later that day and asked him to come over to my house. He showed up and I came clean immediately. The only difference is I told him I initiated it, she willingly participated but I lied and told him I came onto her. I fully expected him to hit me, and he did exactly that. He beat me mercilessly and left me on the floor of my house bleeding on the tiles. I wasn't mad, I knew I deserved it. I don't know how it went down when he got home to Amanda, but it's not really any of my business anyway.
After that incident I decided to leave town permanently. I loaded up my car that night, drove to my landlord's house, gave them my last month's rent, and then drove west. I arrived in a city about 20 hours away. I quit my career, I work as a bartender now. I can't sleep anymore, I have hallucinations. Neither Jack and Amanda have tried to contact me, not that I would ever answer. I don't have any friends, I just work my job, come home, drink, lay in bed, and then get up the next day to start over.

Don’t get me wrong- we are not in the IDEAL spot right now as A’s fans, but this is probably the best I have felt about the prospects of being able to take my 4 month old son to A’s games as he grows up.
I know I get into some crazy conspiracy theory territory, but hear me out…
I have always identified with the A’s. I was proud that my team did more with less. We were perennially the over performing underdogs, and I saw these parallels in my own life: being an A’s fan became part of my identity, and I was proud of it.
During the pandemic was the first time I started to really even notice or pay attention to how many problems stemmed from John Fisher. When the A’s were the ONLY team in the league to stop paying minor leaguers their weekly stipend, I was truly EMBARRASSED to be an A’s fan. That was the moment that it clicked for me how John Fisher has held my passion hostage for nearly the past 2 decades.
Like many, I stopped paying when John Fisher demanded I pay more for a worse product in 2021, and he has proven to be the kid who will quit the game and take the ball with him when he is losing.
I am a banker by profession, and looked into some of the surface level financial drivers, intertwined with my theories, and some facts. Call me out and fact check me if you think there are holes.
Fisher bought the team in 2005, where the A’s received profit sharing. Fisher bought the team, realizing that if he operates the team near a break even, he can pocket millions each year from the profit sharing. So essentially, Fisher was able to leech off of the MLB owners that were investing in their teams since he joined as an owner. Fans were okay with the cheap beers, tickets, food, etc, but they never really aimed to keep high profile players.
The other owners must have wised up to Fishers tactics, because the per the 2016 CBA the A’s were to be phased out of profit sharing by 25% per year. I think in 2016 Fisher got like $30 mil, but then in 2017 it would be 75%, 2018 would be 50%, 2019 would be 25%, and 2020 would be 0%. The A’s payroll remained at the bottom of the MLB.
The MLBPA even filed a grievance against the A’s in 2018 for not paying to field a competitive team, despite receiving profit sharing.
Supposedly the A’s were able to renegotiate an extension of continuance in the revenue sharing program, because they were eligible to continue getting profit sharing until they get a stadium deal done… but that has to come by Jan of 2024, or else no more revenue sharing.
Fisher’s financial picture hasn’t looked great over the past 5 years either, and now he is desperate. We keep calling him a billionaire, but his largest assets are his teams (which are not liquid), and his GAP Inc stock. Let’s call his holdings 20% GAP Inc for round numbers. As of close on Friday Market Cap for GAP Inc (aka the combined value of 100% of the outstanding shares) is worth $3.07bn… Fisher’s portion of that is $614 million.
Back in 2018, GAP had a market cap of 12.94bn, so Fisher’s 20% was worth $2.58bn. Fisher has
Vegas politicians, who are interested in adding the MLB to their pro sports portfolio, are 100% on board with bringing the MLB to town, but they don’t care at all about the A’s. In fact, the bill is not site or team specific. Everyone seems to think the joke is on Vegas politicians and taxpayers, but really I think the joke is on Kaval and Fisher.
I think Vegas is giving the A’s relocation bid a serious shot, without committing anything specific to the A’s. They still can keep the bill, pass on the A’s, and be on the top of MLB’s short list for expansion. Vegas can cite financials, organizational differences, lack of community commitment, stadium shenanigans, lack of public support, etc… they have committed nothing to the A’s.
Meanwhile mid June, Fisher has to convince 22 of the other 29 owners that he has been leeching money from for the past 2 decades that it is in their best financial interest for Fisher to relocate a team from a market that desperately wants to keep them to a market that is indifferent about them, guaranteeing his indefinite qualification for profit sharing.
I think June 13th is a big public media showing, the other owners come out like heroes by declining the relocation A FEW DAYS LATER at the owners meeting, and Fisher sells to someone to develop HT.
I might be crazy, but for the first time in a long time I have hope for great baseball in Oakland for years to come.
TL;DR - fuck John Fisher

Erdogan, 69, is set to remain in power until 2028.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/turkey-erdogan-wins-reelection_n_6473a6fde4b0047ed77c371e
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won reelection Sunday, according to unofficial results, in a victory that extends his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade as the country reels from high inflation and the aftermath of an earthquake that leveled entire cities.
A third term gives Erdogan an even stronger hand domestically and internationally, and the election results will have implications far beyond Ankara. Turkey stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and it plays a key role in NATO.
With nearly 99% of ballot boxes opened, results from competing news agencies showed Erdogan with 52% of the vote, compared with 48% for his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
In his first comments since the polls closed, Erdogan thanked the nation for entrusting him with the presidency for five more years.
“We hope to be worthy of your trust, as we have been for 21 years,” he told supporters on a campaign bus outside his home in Istanbul.
He ridiculed his challenger for his loss, saying “bye bye bye, Kemal,” as supporters booed.
“The only winner today is Turkey,” Erdogan said, promising to work hard for Turkey’s second century. The country marks its centennial this year. “No one can look down on our nation.”
Kilicdaroglu said the election was “the most unjust ever,” with all state resources mobilized for Erdogan.
“We will continue to be at the forefront of this struggle until real democracy comes to our country,” he said in Ankara. He thanked the more than 25 million people who voted for him and asked them to “remain upright.”
The people have shown their will “to change an authoritarian government despite all the pressures,” he said.
Supporters of Erdogan, a divisive populist, were celebrating even before the final results arrived, waving Turkish or ruling party flags, and honking car horns, chanting his name and “in the name of God, God is great.” Celebratory gunfire was heard in several Istanbul neighborhoods.
On the international stage, Erdogan’s government vetoed Sweden’s bid to join NATO and purchased Russian missile-defense systems, which prompted the United States to oust Turkey from a U.S.-led fighter-jet project. But it also helped broker a crucial deal that allowed Ukrainian grain shipments and averted a global food crisis.
Erdogan, who has been at Turkey’s helm for 20 years, came just short of victory in the first round of elections on May 14. It was the first time he failed to win an election outright, but he made up for it Sunday.
His performance came despite crippling inflation and the effects of a devastating earthquake three months ago.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban congratulated Erdogan via Twitter for an “unquestionable election victory,” and Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani wished the Turkish president success in a tweet. Other congratulations poured in from Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Libya, Algeria, Serbia and Uzbekistan.
The two candidates offered sharply different visions of the country’s future, and its recent past.
Critics blame Erdogan’s unconventional economic policies for skyrocketing inflation that has fueled a cost-of-living crisis. Many also faulted his government for a slow response to the earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey.
In the mainly Kurdish-populated province of Diyarbakir — one of 11 regions that was hit by the Feb. 6 earthquake — 60-year-old retiree Mustafa Yesil said he voted for “change.”
“I’m not happy at all with the way this country is going. Let me be clear, if this current administration continues, I don’t see good things for the future,” he said. “I see that it will end badly — this administration has to change.”
Mehmet Yurttas, an Erdogan supporter, disagreed.
“I believe that our homeland is at the peak, in a very good condition,” the 57-year-old shop owner said. “Our country’s trajectory is very good and it will continue being good.”
Erdogan has retained the backing of conservative voters who remain devoted to him for lifting Islam’s profile in the Turkey, which was founded on secular principles, and for raising the country’s influence in world politics.
Erdogan, 69, is set to remain in power until 2028.
A devout Muslim, he heads the conservative and religious Justice and Development Party, or AKP. Erdogan transformed the presidency from a largely ceremonial role to a powerful office through a narrowly won 2017 referendum that scrapped Turkey’s parliamentary system of governance. He was the first directly elected president in 2014, and won the 2018 election that ushered in the executive presidency.
The first half of Erdogan’s tenure included reforms that allowed the country to begin talks to join the European Union, and economic growth that lifted many out of poverty. But he later moved to suppress freedoms and the media and concentrated more power in his own hands, especially after a failed coup attempt that Turkey says was orchestrated by the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. The cleric denies involvement.
Erdogan’s rival was a soft-mannered former civil servant who has led the pro-secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP, since 2010. Kilicdaroglu campaigned on promises to reverse Erdogan’s democratic backsliding, to restore the economy by reverting to more conventional policies, and to improve ties with the West.
In a frantic effort to reach out to nationalist voters in the runoff, Kilicdaroglu vowed to send back refugees and ruled out peace negotiations with Kurdish militants if he is elected.
Erdogan’s AKP party and its allies retained a majority of seats in parliament following a legislative election that was also held on May 14.
Sunday also marked the 10th anniversary of the start of mass anti-government protests that broke out over plans to uproot trees in Istanbul’s Gezi Park, and became one of the most serious challenges to Erdogan’s government.
Erdogan’s response to the protests, in which eight people were convicted for alleged involvement, was a harbinger of a crackdown on civil society and freedom of expression.
Following the May 14 vote, international observers pointed to the criminalization of dissemination of false information and online censorship as evidence that Erdogan had an “unjustified advantage.” They also said that strong turnout showed the resilience of Turkish democracy.
Erdogan and pro-government media portrayed Kilicdaroglu, who received the backing of the country’s pro-Kurdish party, as colluding with “terrorists” and of supporting what they described as “deviant” LGBTQ rights.
In his victory speech, he repeated those themes, saying LGBTQ people cannot “infiltrate” his ruling party or its nationalist allies.

Some hours later, the colony’s power was back on as everything had mostly been cleaned up. Everyone was still a little shaken, especially as heavily armed soldiers patrolled through the halls, however now Khan was holding a meeting in the multipurpose room. Uzi, Thad, N and V were in the audience as the MTF team stood to the side with Red. Clef and Shaw were standing on the stage next to Khan.
Khan went to the mic on top of a stage before he spoke. “Hello everyone, as you know things have been…. Well you know. Anyways because our lovely colony is currently being cleaned and patrolled by our…. Hold on.” Khan then pulled out a piece of paper and read it aloud. “Benevolent benefactors…. Huh.”
Jane looked towards Aron who was smiling. “Did you give him a script?” Jane said.
“Yep. Best decision I ever made.” Aron replied. Jane rolled her eyes.
“Hmmm…. Pass the mic to Clef…. OH right sorry.” Khan said as he looked at the paper and gave Clef the mic.
“So what me and the foundation have decided is that now you will all be sent on a nice campaign trip to one of the few woods that isn’t infested with 939 instances…. Mostly. Just keep out of the nearby caves and ignore the voices and you’ll be fine. Anyway we already have the jeeps set up, mostly because the bus you were using is actually an instance of scp 2086…. I personally don’t know how any of you are still alive. Damn thing killed twelve men.” Clef said as he handed the mic to Shaw.
“Howdy everybody!” Shaw started in an enthusiastic voice. He waited for the crowd to say something as everyone stayed silent. “Ok…. We’ll Clef told you what you're doing, however I wanted to add something! The brave MTF at Alpha 1 will be your councilors! Mostly because they're the only ones qualified to deal with the things in there but hey that’s not important! Anyway back to the point, your councilors will be alpha 1 like I said, however because we don’t have enough people volunteering, N and V have graciously decided to step up!”
“WHAT!” V said as she stood up. “I NEVER AGREED TO THIS!”
“You're right! You didn’t! I made the decision for you!” Shaw said.
“Ummm…. Mr Shaw, I also didn’t get news of this.” N said as he raised his hand.
“It’s ok! You don't even have to do anything! I already made your outfits!!!!” Shaw said enthusiastically as he held out two camp uniforms.
“He got them from a couple of skeletons by the way, so if you feel wet while in them just know it’s because said skeletons were inside a 939.” Clef said.
“THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT!” Shaw yelled. “Just have fun! Now get on those buses people! Yaaaaaaa! This is gonna be so much fun for you, aren't you excited?!?”
“Not at all.” Uzi said.
“Same here, this whole camp thing seems a little too excessive.” Red replied.
“Did I mention there’s a reward for whoever keeps the most WD’s alive- I mean uhhh…. Happy?” Shaw said.
“What kind of reward are we talking about….” V said as she sat back down.
“Ahhh…. You know…. Stuff.” Shaw said with a smile.
“A ton of motor oil.” Clef said. “For humans a ton of cash.”
“OH COME ON! STOP SPOILING THE SURPRISE!” Shaw yelled.
“So wait…. Why motor oil?” Cole asked as he turned to Gram.
“Motor oil is, In simple terms, beer for MD’s and WD’s. Highly intoxicating.” Gram replied.
“Huh, no wonder V is suddenly all for this.” Aron said. “She probably drinks a lot of it I bet.”
“Hey! I heard that!” V said from the audience. “Just so you know I’ve only drank it once! It was pretty sweet…. Wait, that reminds me…. Where is that other drone…. Fennec?” V looked around.
“She’s in the truck, she called the one with N in it and refuses to leave it until he gets on for some reason. No one can get her out so we’re rolling with it.” Jane replied.
“H-Hey, can I speak?” Thad said.
“Yes you can. Do you have a question?” Shaw said.
“Uh ya. What's 939?” Thad said.
“Oh golly I was hoping you would say that!” Shaw said now practically beaming.
“Dammit what have you done?!?” Clef said, annoyed. “Now we're gonna be here for thirty minutes….”
A half hour later, and everyone had packed their things and we’re going into one of the trucks, it was the middle of the night, the trucks had open canopies above them. The trucks were also colored black with the foundation logo on their sides. They were driven by one of the MTF, or N and V. When N got into his truck Fennec was already in the passenger side.
“Hellllloooo!” Fennec said enthusiastically. “We’re going camping!!!!”
“Yes we are! I’m a little nervous. I've never camped before….” N said as he put his hands on the steering wheel. “Or maybe it’s because I’ve never driven anything before….”
Meanwhile Uzi got on her truck with Thad and a couple more WD’s. However Lizzy was also on board.
“Wait…. Aren’t you supposed to be in the prison sector?” Thad said as he looked at Lizzy.
“She was let out for good behavior, and proving that she wasn’t a threat.” Jane said over the integrated intercom as she was about to drive the truck.
“We’ll…. Don’t try anything. Got it.” Uzi said, trying to intimidate Lizzy.
“I know.” Lizzy said as she set her backpack beside her.
“So is everyone ready?” Jane said as she spoke over the intercom.
“Yea. We’re ready.” Uzi said with a sigh as she tried to get comfortable.
“Then off we go.” Jane replied.
Red was in her own truck with a bunch of WD’s, Aron and Cole were driving it. The trucks had already started on the road. Gram was also in the back doing something on his tablet.
“So…. Cards?” Red said as she pulled out a deck of cards.
“Yea!” One WD said.
“Ohh! Are we doing Uno or Go fish?” A female WD piped up.
“I'll call first!” Another said.
“Slow down guys, geez, anyway it's Uno, I have enough cards for everyone so let’s get started!” Red said as she started to pass out the cards to the delight of the WD’s.
As the trucks drove through the harsh night of copper 9. Snow blew all around the trucks as curious WD’s peaked and saw the many sights of the planet.
Uzi’s truck saw a group of 745’s as Jane had called them, they were watching the truck from a building. As the truck went past,
One WD said. “Wow! Why do their heads glow like that?”
“They glow because their heads are bioluminescent, on earth it was to mimic the headlights of a car before ramming a person off the road and most likely eating them. However there is some evidence they just hunt for sport.” Jane said over the intercom.
“Cool!” Another WD, said.
On N, V, and Fennec’s truck they were barely keeping steady as V was squished between N and Fennec.
“Just keep your eyes on the road and drive ok?” V said, sighing.
“I-I know! I think…. Hold on, I got this!” N said.
“I believe in you!” Fennec said.
As N drove, the truck ran over tons of small hills, it even went into the air a couple times. However all was good as they finally made it to the outskirts of the city and into a smoother road.
After a long time of driving, all the trucks finally made it to the woods. Uzi was sleeping on Thad’s shoulder as everyone else in her truck was also sound asleep. Until suddenly a gunshot awoke all of them. As Uzi grabbed her railgun and looked widely, the other WD’s ducked for cover. However Uzi heard laughter behind her, looking behind herself to see Jane wielding a smoking pistol.
“UGH BITE ME!” Uzi said in annoyance as she got off the truck, the other now wide awake WD’s did the same. “What? It was funny!” Jane said, still chuckling to herself.
Meanwhile the WD’s in N, V, and Fennec’s truck were already awake and shaken, they got off as quickly as possible as N had managed to drive into a tree. He got off holding his head as V got off and slapped him.
“KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!” V yelled.
“Hey! Don’t yell at him like that! He was trying his best!” Fennec replied to V.
“Ya, his best to kill us!” V said.
“Hmph! Let’s go N she obviously doesn’t want us here!” Fennec said as she forcefully grabbed N’s wrist, V followed them anyway as she rolled her eyes.
Meanwhile Red had gotten off her truck laughing and joking with a female WD named Rebecca.
“Oh man I can’t believe you beat me!” Red said as she looked at Rebecca.
“Yea, I’m pretty good at cards.” She replied. “Oh also, just so you know this is my boyfriend!” Rebecca then pulled a male WD with sunglasses closer to her. He waved at Red.
“Aww you are so cute together!” Red said.
“Thanks!” Darren replied as Rebecca smiled.
“Hey, before we go our separate ways, I just wanted to say that if you need to go outside the camp for some ‘alone time’ I’ll be happy to help.” Red said with a wink before she left with a smile.
After five minutes, all the WDs, Red, Jane, Aron, Cole, and Gram had gathered in front of the lodges waiting and wondering wherever the MDs had walked off to while the wind and snow blew around them and the snow slightly building up on everyone’s clothes as they stood there.
“So uhhh, do we just start or….” Aron said.
“No, we have to wait for them. Orders from Shaw, we have to make sure everyone is here.” Jane replied. Red was considering pulling out one of the sets of cards again when suddenly three figures slammed down onto the ground in front of everyone, wings out along with their blades extended. It was N, V and Fennec, they were wearing camping uniforms Shaw had given them. They turned around to look at everyone, the yellow MD > “Jesus, could any of you be more threatening?!?” Red said.
“It was Fennec's idea.” V said.
“Welcome campers! Let’s sound off!” Said N as he looked up at everyone. “One, two….” N started as he counted the WD’s.
All the WD’s looked terrified. As none of them spoke. Suddenly V turned her right hand into a SMG and was about to shoot one of the WD’s, however before she could, Red tackled the WD down and out of the way of the bullet.
“WOAH WHAT THE FUCK!” Yelled Aron as he starred at V.
“…. What? I was just getting their attention.” V said as she looked around everyone.
“THAT'S how you get attention from people?!?” Red said as she stood up.
“…. Yes?….” V shrugged in confusion.
“Listen, I’m trying to get that prize alright? Just don’t go killing WD’s everywhere you look. Ok?” Red said.
“Jeez ok.” V said, rolling her eyes.
Every WD was stunned, however V just pointed her MP5SD at them again and without hesitation they all stood at full attention and said. “Present!”
“Ok! Great! That’s everyone! We have tons of activities planned! So don’t go sneaking off to investigate stuff!” N said as he slowly looked at Uzi a little.
“Also, you REALLY shouldn’t go out, trust me. The 939’s out here can and will eat you.” Aron said, stepping in front of the crowd. “As long as you don’t go out by yourself or listen to the voices at night you’ll be fine.”
“Wait, you didn’t clear them out?” Red said as she looked at Aron.
“We tried, lost an entire squad to one of them. So now we just decided to hand out rules…. It’s simple, just don’t go outside…. At all…. I’m serious, you will die a horrible drawn out death.” Aron said as he stared at all the WD’s.
All the WD’s stood still. However then Thad and Lizzie came from the crowd and stood with N, V and Fennec.
“See, if those two are going with them, you can trust them as well! Sorta. Actually never mind, that's a horrible idea.” Cole said.
After a long and drawn out ten minutes of getting everyone organized. Jane, Aron, Cole, Gram, N, and V had their groups, Fennec was never assigned one so she went with N’s group.
Meanwhile Uzi was going by herself, she had a backpack with her as she went off into the woods, as she walked the snowy paths, trees surrounding her with the night sky above her. Suddenly she looked to her right to see a pack of 745’s were starting to surround her, Uzi however simply waved her hand at them as the strange symbol that marked her powers surrounded her hand. Suddenly the 745’s became much more calm as they all left as Uzi went back to walking. Continuing to walk through the Forest each footstep leaving a mark in the snow and a crunch from each one as well as the noise of wind blowing snow through the trees. Then Uzi noticed something odd. A pair of red glowing eyes were staring at her from the darkness. As she looked back to confirm their existence they were gone. Uzi shivered and seemed to disregard the sighting as she went towards the cabin.
As Uzi walked, the campgrounds were doing surprisingly fine, each cabin held one of the councilors doing a ‘fun’ activity with their group of WD’s.
Inside one was Jane’s group. Jane held her sniper rifle and had set up a makeshift shooting range, Jane was seemingly demonstrating something by hitting every target with a perfect headshot. Each target was a paper cut out of a silhouette with a Anderson robotics logo on its head.
“Ok so, does anyone else want to try their hand?” Jane said as her rifle smoked.
“Every WD in her group stayed silent before one raised their hand, it was Darren.
“You can do this!” Rebecca said.
Darren smiled as he took the rifle from Jane. He steadied himself and fired, however instead of hitting a target like he hoped. He instead fired the rifle directly out of his hands into the air. Jane caught the rifle mid air and shook her head as every other WD laughed. Darren quietly went back embarrassed.
Cole’s group was also inside their cabin, however, instead of doing any activities. Cole just sat in a chair at the corner.
“So…. What do we do?” One WD said.
“Hell if I know. I'm a soldier not a counselor, you know what screw this i'm going on patrol. You just do whatever you want.” Cole said as he got up and walked out with his shotgun.
As soon as Cole left, his cabin went into anarchy as every WD got up and started doing, as Cole said, whatever.
In Grams cabin the WD’s were disgusted to see a dead 745 flop down onto a table in the middle of the room.
“Today, we will be dissecting this 745 instance. Freshly killed by Jane when we got here. I’ll pass out the scalpels soon enough, make sure to get its organs and lay them out beside the body. Work as a team.” Gram said.
The WD’s looked at the body with disgust.
“If I can get sick…. Then I’m getting sick….” One WD said.
In Aron’s cabin it was something out of a boot camp. WD’s held up wooden sticks as they marched around the cabin, Aron walked around them yelling orders.
“Come on! Pick up the pace, green eyes! When I’m finished with you, you’ll all be considered foundation recruits! Be glad I haven't set up the course, yet!” Aron said.
“Y-Yes sir!” The WD’s said in perfect unison.
In N, V and Fennec's cabin. Which Red was also a part of. Red was exhausted and annoyed.
“Please…. STOP TRYING TO KILL THEM!” Red yelled at V.
“It’s the only way they’ll learn.” V replied.
“LIKE HELL! Sometimes I wonder why I even snuck on the truck…. I’m not even supposed to be here….” Red said.
“Wait, you weren't?” Fennec said before stumbling. “Then why are you here anyway?”
“Maybe it’s because she wanted to have fun! Like us! Right guys!” N said as he looked at the WD’s hiding in the corner, their eyes trained on V in fear.
“No, it’s because I snuck on. I was supposed to help out with repairs but hey, screw that. Connor managed to get me on board the trucks without much trouble.” Red replied.
“Wait, Connor? I haven’t heard from him in a long time.” V said, suddenly interested.
“Ya actually what has he been doing?” N said.
“Nothing really, he’s been in the back of the ship working on a pet project of his. I have no idea what that is but he says it’s too important to really say anything about it.” Red replied, shrugging.
“Huh, neat!” N said.
Meanwhile Fennec was in the corner with the WD’s, the WD’s looked terrified of her. Fennec then reached into her shirt to pull something out, as the WD’s prepared for the worst, Fennec then pulled out a green lizard-like animal, it looked two meters long from head to tail. It also had a long, thin body with eight pairs of narrow limbs. It looked to have compound eyes. It didn’t seem to mind as Fennec got it out of her coat as she held it in her arms.
“Hey Fennec, wait…. What’s that!” V yelled in surprise as she turned towards Fennec.
“Oh, I found him a couple years ago! I like him so I keep in my coat and let him rest there. He doesn’t seem to mind.” Fennec said.
“Huh, it looks kind of cute!” N said as he got closer. The WD’s also did the same in curiosity.
“You know, with the things I’ve seen, this is pretty normal. Somehow.” Red said as she shrugged.
N got closer to the green lizard thing, it then liked his visor. N backed his head away a little in shock. However he then giggled and said. “I like this thing. Can I hold him?”
“Sure!” Fennec said. “Anything for you!”
N then took the lizard from Fennec and held it in his arms as it liked his visor again to N’s delight, even V was intrigued by it even if her face didn’t show it.
Uzi however was dealing with things no man could explain. She was inside an abandoned cabin deeper in the woods. As she looked around, it was seemingly empty. There were little robotic bugs running around, doing things such as running away every time Uzi walked over.
Uzi rolled her eyes as she used her abilities to raise a flashlight above her head and turn it on. As she looked around everything looked mostly the same. Suddenly a noise from deeper inside the cabin suddenly resonated. Uzi switched her light to where the noise came from, as she watched. She suddenly saw a glimpse of what looked like a hand going back inside a corner. Uzi suddenly got startled and her flashlight dropped. As she caught it she heard another noise that sounded like a scream from outside. Uzi slowly went to the window and looked out of it.
However, it was just everyone else on the frozen lake, even though it was frozen Uzi could still see everyone one the ice messing around, some of the groups even had boats on the ice.
“This is…. Very underwhelming….” Red said as she was in a boat on the ice with N.
“We'll have to do something! Plus this is very cool!” N said as he went to the front of the boat and stood on it.
“And this is very cool!!” Fennec said as she sat on the back of the boat, the lizard keeping the WD’s happy as they played with it.
On N’s boat there were some more WD’s who were seemingly having fun, rowing the boat along the ice with oar’s. V’s boat also came up to N’s, her boat had a different strategy of doing things. V’s boat had her WD group holding it up. V along with Lizzie was on the top of it.
“Sabotage my minions! Plan X!” V yelled as one of the WD’s below her boat kicked N’s boat off course.
“As the WD’s in N’s boat started to rock. Rebecca suddenly said. “I-I can’t swim!” As she was about to fall onto the ice.
“…. It’s ice.” Red said as she looked at Rebecca. “You can’t swim on ice….” Red sounded a mix of disappointed and confused.
“Oh…. Right.” Rebecca said as she stedied herself on the boat. A little embarrassed.
“I should have never gone on this trip….” Red said to herself as she sighed.
Meanwhile V’s boat was starting to get ahead, however Red simply rolled her eyes and threw a coin she had in her pocket in front of V's boat. The WD holding it up in the front saw the coin and immediately went to pick it up.
“Ohhhh shiny!” He said as he bent down. However then the entire boat lost balance and fell.
V immediately used her wings to float above the crash as she rolled her eyes and looked at Red. Red had a smug expression on her face.
Then suddenly from the right came Aron’s boat, it was painted fully black with a white foundation insignia on its sides. The WD’s now wore wooden helmets, also painted black with the foundation insignia on them.
“I love working for the council!” Aron yelled from the front of the boat as the WD’s rowed with expert precision.
“I love working for the council!” The WD’s yelled back, also in perfect precision.
“Lets me know just who I am!” Aron said again.
“Let’s me know just who I am!” The WD’s said, repeating after Aron.
As Aron’s group passed N, and V’s groups they could only watch as they rowed their boat with military accuracy.
“Did you train them to be soldier’s or something?” V asked Aron as she flew closer.
“Your goddamn right! I’ve trained these WD’s to be soldier’s! When I get back I’ll be leading the first team of WD soldier’s the foundation has ever seen! Now repeat after me maggots!” Aron yelled back to his WD’s as he started the song over again.
All of a sudden, from behind Aron came a noise of what sounded like a car. As Aron turned around to the WD’s he saw Grams boat, it was not really a boat anymore.
Grams boat was now fully fitted with tires and all of the like. It was fully made and fully operational. It was more car than boat.
“Hello Aron.” Gram said as his car-boat passed Aron’s astonished group. N, Fennec and even V watched in awe as Grams' boat practically started to zoom around them in circles.
“H-How?!?” V said.
“Simple, intelligence.” Gram replied.
“Wait…. Where’s Cole?” N said as he looked around.
“Back at the bank of the river. They're still setting up.” Lizzy said with a chuckle as she pointed all the way to the bank, where Cole was trying his best to make his boat.
“It turns out anarchy isn’t a way to run something like that.” Lizzy said.
Meanwhile Uzi watched from the cabin window. Suddenly her face had the symbol of her powers for a split second on her right eye. The window shattered, Uzi immediately backed away, her visor showing a caution sign as she did so.
Uzi’s caution sign then had the words, ‘high heat’ on it as Uzi put down her backpack and looked inside. Inside it was a WD arm, as Uzi looked at the arm she was hyperventilating
Then all of a sudden an all too familiar voice came from behind Uzi.
“Uzi doorman, such a surprise seeing you here.” It said from behind her.
“W-Who-“ Uzi started as she turned around, however was shocked to see not N, V or anyone else. She saw Klen standing behind her, his hands in his coat as his eyes glowed a sickly red.
“Y-You!” Uzi said as she held out her hand with the symbol on it to fight Klen. However Klen just shook his head.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, heretic.” Klen said as he looked behind Uzi.
Uzi looked behind her to see what looked like a horde of fleshy abominations, they looked like they were once human, they all looked at Uzi. They made horrific noises as their flesh had seemingly been torn off. There was no sign of any kind of skin on any of their bodies.
“What do you want?” Uzi said as she looked back to Klen with some hints of fear.
“No no. It’s what you want my dear Uzi. For I have these that may interest you.” Klen then put his hand to its palm as he held it out, suddenly some tentacles came from the ground making a sizable hole, they rose holding up a WD corpse, the tentacles threw it aside as they went back down into the hole in the ground and pulled out three papers.
“This poor WD died alone, it’s a shame. I don’t even remember killing her. However she did write these. Read them, Uzi doorman.” Klen said as the tentacles passed the papers to Uzi.
The papers looked like drawings of a madman, however one of them was a paper from Anderson robotics. Uzi read it carefully and saw it was a notice of some kind. However there was another thing on it written in oil that said. ‘Lights from below’
Uzi turned it around to see a finger from something, perhaps a MD. Uzi took it off and studied it before Klen laughed.
“Enjoy your reading? heretic?” Klen said with a smile.
“Bite me!” Uzi said, looking at Klen with anger.
“Well that is no way to treat an old friend? Well I’ll have to punish you!” Klen said with a sneer.
Uzi started to prepare for the worst as she backed away from both Klen and his flesh creatures.
“Don't worry, I won’t do it myself, for that deed has already been taken. It will arrive shortly. Now Uzi, I hope to see your body in the snow, begging for mercy from yaldabaoth. However, you shall gain none!” Klen said with yet another sneer. Suddenly he and all his flesh creatures sunk into the ground, disappearing from view. As Uzi stared in disbelief at what just happened. She didn’t notice Doll behind her, watching her. Suddenly Doll disappeared before Uzi could even notice.
Then Uzi was suddenly knocked back by something plowing through the wall, knocking Uzi back into the front wall as she turned herself around to see what had happened.
In front of Uzi was a robot of some kind, it was bulky and had two Miniguns for its arms, its shoulders had what looked like small middle silos and it had large legs. As Uzi stared at this robot, it stared back at her with its head being a yellow light camera. Its head was mounted between its shoulder missile silos. Its shoulders had a strange logo Uzi had never seen before. They had the globe of earth colored a light blue on them with the words ‘Protection, Concealment, survival, education, destruction.’ In a circle around the blue globe.
“Absolute solver detected, calculating.” The robot said as it stared at Uzi. “Threat to sapient life if allowed to live. 70%. Course of action…. TERMINATION.” Its eye then glowed a menacing red.
“OH SH-“ Uzi was about to yell when suddenly the robot activated some kind of thrusters and charged at Uzi directly, Uzi reacted fast and activated her powers once again to make a shield with a large version of that symbol blocking in front of her.
However, that did almost nothing as the robot simply charged into the shield, knocking Uzi through the wall of the cabin. Uzi was knocked some ways away from the cabin as she got up from the snow, spitting some out and holding her head as she got up, she looked around and saw trees for miles and the cabin the distance, she must've been hit a mile away from it. Then she noticed the robot was already on its way surprisingly fast, in just a few short moments it was already in front of her.
Uzi immediately used her powers to try to directly target it. However when she tried her visor simply flashed a message. ‘Warning, cannot target.’
“Oh you have to be kidding me-“ Uzi said as suddenly the robot started to fire its miniguns at Uzi without any sense of remorse or emotion.
Uzi immediately used her powers to make a shield around herself as she fled behind a large boulder nearby. The robot started to slowly march to the other side of the boulder as it continued pelting it with its miniguns, slowly destroying Uzi’s cover.
As Uzi tried to think and started to panic, she looked around and saw a large tree nearby, Uzi had an idea. Uzi immediately used her powers to target the tree and with some effort managed to uproot it. As it floated Uzi was surprised even with herself, it was the largest thing she had lifted and she was doing it with ease like it was a metal pipe.
Uzi had no time to think as the robot finally got to the other side and started to fire on Uzi, however she thought quickly and threw the tree at the robot, it knocked it off balance and even somewhat dented it. However other than that it was unaffected.
Uzi immediately put her shield up just in time for the robot to start pelting her with bullets again as it walked closer to her. Suddenly it stopped to Uzi’s surprise. Instead its missile silos then fired what seemed like at least twenty small missiles at Uzi that looked like they were going around the shield.
Uzi immediately panicked and started to try to target the missiles with her other hand. Spikes came from the ground and pre-exploded almost every missile a safe distance away from Uzi, however a couple of them were going straight at Uzi, she was forced to tank them with her shield which immediately broke it and sent Uzi a few feet backwards. The robot wasted no time in firing again, as the bullets were about to hit Uzi she felt fear and panic for her life. Just then she started to fly in the air to dodge the bullets and started to fly away.
Uzi was surprised that she just did that, however she had no time to think as she looked behind herself and saw the robot also flying directly after her, worst of all it was aiming its miniguns and preparing to fire.
“DAMMIT, GO AWAY!” Uzi yelled as she uprooted multiple trees in the area and flung them at the robot, it was knocked down to the ground and, however that did little to stop it from going in the air again, however this time it must’ve put its thrusters to full because it flew faster than Uzi and charged directly into her like a charging bull.
As Uzi was flung out of the air even further away. She was knocked so far she made it to another building, this one was larger and made of actual concrete. It had a sign at the front that said ‘Visitor center’ but Uzi could care less at this moment.
As Uzi fled into the building landed outside and fired its missiles at Uzi to chase her within the building. As Uzi ran through the walls, making sure to knock things down behind her to stop the missiles. They kept coming expertly dodging whatever she threw at them. Then one of the missiles accidentally ran into a pillar as Uzi went around a corner fast into a large open area with a lot of support pillars. Its explosion took out the last few missiles as well as the tower. However it gave Uzi an idea as she looked at the building now shaking from it. Uzi started to smile.
As the robot came into a large open area with all the pillars, it looked around for Uzi and didn’t see her. It seemed confused as it looked again and scanned the area.
“Hey! You! I’m over here!” Uzi yelled as she came out from a pillar and waved her hands with a smirk. The robot didn’t hesitate as it fired its miniguns at her. Uzi however just ran back to the pillar and stayed behind it as the robot destroyed it with the hail of bullets. Then she moved into the next, and the next, and the next.
Uzi’s smile grew larger as more pillars started to fall and the building started to slowly crumble. Then she went behind one of the few pillar’s remaining as the robot fired at it, just as Uzi had hoped.
As the pillar was destroyed, it was the straw that broke the camel's back as all the other pillars started to collapse from the weight of the building practically falling on top of them.
Uzi immediately flew out of the building as fast as she could, the robot was about to follow when the building collapsed on top of it. Outside, Uzi barely made it. She looked behind herself, and after a few seconds of silence.
“HELL YA! I JUST DID THAT! THAT WAS ME!” Uzi yelled as she celebrated.
Just as Uzi was about to go back with a smile on her face. The robot started to slowly crawl from the rubble unnoticed, it was heavily damaged, wires were poking out as one of its arms was gone, it’s legs were missing and dents were all over its body.
“T-TTT-TT-TT-TTERMINATE.” It said as it glitched and sparked.
Uzi turned around just in time to see it just as it fired everything it had at Uzi, its minigun fired one last salvo as it fired whatever missiles it had left. Uzi could barely react In time as she set up her shield. However some bullets made it through and pierced her body, spilling oil on the snow as the missiles hit it and flung Uzi a few feet back as more bullets went into her. As Uzi laid on the ground now seemingly dead. The robot’s eye turned back to yellow.
“M-MM-MMMISSION CCCCCCC-CCCOMPLET. REEEETURRNING TO BASE.” It said as it started to crawl in a direction slowly.
However, Uzi's body started to change. She grew large black organic wings as she screamed in pure rage, the robot turned back confused. Standing over it was Uzi, but that was impossible, its calculations had said nothing could survive a salvo like that.
Uzi stared at the robot with uncaring eyes as her visor turned into a purple >< symbol. She immediately grabbed the robot's head and with strength she should’ve never had. She ripped it off, killing the robot instantly. She then flew back with her wings to the camp.
Meanwhile back at the camp everyone had finished the activities and were back in their cabins, surprising everyone had stayed alive. Mostly thanks to Red’s constant vigilance.
“I. Hate. You.” Red said exhausted as she looked at V.
V shrugged and said. “What? I was only doing what I know.”
“We’ll I had a great time!” Fennec said.
“Same here!” N said as he looked around.
“However I keep counting everyone and yet I don’t see Uzi…. Hmmm…. Wonder where she went?” N said as he looked around.
Meanwhile Rebbeca and Darren were going into the woods, Red had told them this path would lead them to a secluded place free of 939 or 745’s where they could make out peacefully.
“Wow, that Red girl sure knows her stuff.” Darren said as they made it to a small log house.
“I know right?!? She’s my new bestie hands down. Anyway, let's not waste anymore time.”
As they went inside it looked strange. There were some kind of black things on the walls and a flashlight on the ground. As Rebbeca went to pick it up. She suddenly felt a presence from above her. As she and Darren looked above themselves they saw what looked to be Uzi, however she had black organic wings and even a black organic tail that seemed to be alive as it had a face and jaws.
As Rebbeca and Darren starred in absolute horror at Uzi’s new form. Uzi was seemingly about to pounce and kill them, when suddenly a roar was heard from the opposite side of the room. Uzi, Darren and Rebbeca looked over and saw a creature, it looked quadrupedal and had a frog-like stance. It was blood red and had spikes running along its back, its snout was like an alligator and it seemed to have no eyes.
It looked at Uzi and roared again as it swiped in a show of force at Uzi. Uzi put her attention away from Darren and Rebbeca as they fled and instead towards this new foe. Uzi chuckled as it started to charge.
Meanwhile back at camp, N was recounting everyone, not only that but strangest of all was that now the MTF were gone as well.
“You're really bad at this….” V said.
“N-Now hold on! I…. Uhhh…. I can fix this!” N said, now panicking a bit.
Red rolled her eyes and said. “This is why I never should’ve come….”
Suddenly Darren and Rebbeca came running from over a nearby hill and through the trees, they were seemingly running from something.
“Hey guys? What’s wrong? Run into a 939?” Red said confused as she went up first to meet the exhausted pair.
“I-It’s Uzi! She’s gone feral!” Rebbeca said out of breath.
“Oh Uzi would never go feral! That’s crazy talk from a crazy girl!” Fennec said as she patted Rebbeca on the head.
“I-It’s true! She tried to eat us!” Darren replied.
“No slow done, I’m sure Uzi was just trying to scare you-“ N started before being cut off by a head of a 939 suddenly dropping from the sky right next to them as its blood sprayed everywhere.
Suddenly Uzi came flying down with blood on her lips as she crashed on the head, spilling its brains and gore everywhere.
“We’ll…. That’s new-“ Red said before suddenly being flung away by Uzi’s power’s.
N was also about to say something when he was suddenly flung away by Uzi.
Fennec was about to say something but as she saw Uzi her eyes widened into Ovals, and starting to shake and hyperventilate again as she fell onto her knees and then got magically tossed aside like the others.
V however was faster and charged directly. At Uzi, however, just as she was about to stab her. Uzi’s tail grabbed V and flung her deeper into the woods, Uzi flew after her. Uzi cut off V’s right arm and then used her powers to push her into a tree. V tried to shoot Uzi but Uzi just forced her hand up and the missile V shot missed horribly. Uzi then threw V to the ground and was about to stab her with her own syringe tail. When suddenly N came and grabbed Uzi by her coat along with Red who put her sword to Uzi’s neck, Fennec was also there helping V up.
“Woah, easy there.” N said, trying to calm down Uzi. However she just used her powers to hit Red with a nearby tree and stabbed N’s hand with V’s syringe.
“Ow, ok up we go!” N said as he tossed Uzi into the air above the very clouds.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!” Red yelled as she got back up.
“No idea, but we’re trying to fix it.” V said as she regenerated herself.
Fennec said nothing as she lay on the ground curling her arms into her knees still shaking, repeating to herself no over and over again. Almost like she had seen this before.
“Ya…. I’ll go talk to her. Be right back!” N said as he flew up as well.
“…. Where’s those MTF when you need them?” Red said, sitting down next to V.
“I know, it’s infuriating sometimes.” V said, agreeing with Red.
Meanwhile the MTF team watched from a watchtower as Jane pressed a button on her radio and spoke into it.
“It’s happening, send everybody in, heavy and medium vehicles recommend and out down reality anchors. We got her.” Jane said as they started to go down from their watchtower.
From just outside the woods a large force of MTF operatives, tanks, APC’s, helicopters, and even some jets overhead started to move into the woods with utmost haste.
After some time with Red and V successfully making a snowman, N and Uzi suddenly crashed back down and crushed the snowman.
“God Dammit!” Red said, annoyed.
“Oh come on! That took us a few seconds to set up!” V said also annoyed.
“MY SNOWMANNN NOOOOO!” Fennec said as she started to cry a bit.
N was now holding Uzi who had lost her wings and tail.
“Accent was a bad idea anyway….” Uzi said as N was still holding her.
“N…. I’m also sorry….” Uzi said to N.
“Ehhh, not like you killed anyone! Except that 939…. But does that really count as anyone?” N said, looking at Red.
“Maybe, I don’t know I’m not a foundation researcher, why are you looking at me?!?” Red said.
“Hey, is it safe to come out now?” Rebbeca said as she came out from behind a tree. A lot of other WD’s did the same, some were hiding in the snow while others were literally in the trees.
“Wow, that was…. AWESOME! I’d like to see that again with my besties.” Lizzy said as she came out.
“Hey guys! I have returned with a bunch of snacks! As it turns out I left them in the trucks!…. What did I miss?” Thad said as he came out of the woods holding a load of chips and drinks.
Suddenly lights flashed on Uzi, N, V and Fennec as helicopters circled above. MTF ran out of APC’s as they charged into the area, with their guns all pointed to Uzi, their flashlights nearly blinding. Some of them even set up strange machines that glowed red and pulsated with red light.
Jane and the other MTF also came out from the crowd of MTF now gathering around and focusing on Uzi.
“Uzi, N, V, Red, and F. by order of the 05 council. You are all being detained for having abilities that can and will harm the people and things around you. Surrender yourselves or we will be forced to fire!” Jane said.
Uzi, N, V, Red, and Fennec looked around at the force of MTF and vehicles around them, the sound of helicopters above them and jet fighters circling like vultures above them.
“BITE ME!!!” Uzi yelled as she stared at Jane in anger and betrayal.